Save Me
by Nari of Mirkwood
Summary: Sasuke finds Hinata one rainy night, injured and on the brink of death. He brings her home and bandages her wounds. The two form a relationship and while Hinata thinks Sasuke saved her, it was her that saved him.


Okay, this is just a little one-shot that I decided to write. I was bored and I said, "Hey, why not write a one-shot about your favorite Naruto couple?" and here I am. Anyways, this features Sasuke and Hinata as a couple. No it's not a fluff story, I left the fluff satisfactory, not total mush. Oh yeah, and Hiashi and Sasuke are OOC, sorry!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any of the plots and/or characters (tho' I wish I did). This plot is originally mine, however.

Save Me 

Sasuke lay awake in bed as the sun peeked over the horizon. The previous night had been just like all the others, sleepless and filled with nightmares. Every night, the face of Itachi haunted Sasuke's nightmares as the memories of his childhood came flooding back to him. _'Another night, another torture session,'_ Sasuke thought to himself.

He forced himself to get out of bed and into the bathroom. His entire house was dark, reminding him even more of his pain. After eating breakfast and getting dressed, he walked outside into the cool, fall morning. The leaves on the trees had started turning colors and a cool wind blew into Konoha, signifying the end of summer. Another cycle of the seasons had gone by and still the warm rays of summer had not been enough to thaw Sasuke's icy heart.

The lone Uchiha walked past Team 7's old training grounds and thought back to the times when himself, Naruto, and Sakura were still genin. A small smile crept onto his face as he remembered the first lesson Kakashi had taught the three of them. _'Team work, that's what this exercise was all about. You're not thinking like ninja, you're thinking like spoiled, little kids.'_

Sasuke smiled to himself as he thought back on how ignorant of a "ninja" he was. Deciding not to train (surprise there), he left the empty training grounds as they were. Walking past the Ichiraku Ramen, he cringed when he heard the annoying voice of his past teammate. "Sasuke, come back!" Sakura called out while wrapping her arms around him.

Then came Ino's voice, "Don't go with that stupid fore-head girl Sasuke! Come with me!"

"Shove off Ino pig!"

"You wanna fight!"

Sasuke didn't hear any more of the conversation and he didn't want to. _'Even after ten years, they're still the same,'_ he thought to himself.

He continued walking until he reached Konoha's gates. He jumped onto the branch of a tree that sat right next to the gate. _'Sometimes, I just wish I could leave those gates and never come back._' With that thought, Sasuke drifted off to sleep, painful dreams not disturbing him for once.

The Uchiha woke up a few hours later to rain droplets hitting his face. "I must have dozed off," he said to no one in particular. The wind was blowing harder now and it was no longer the cool breeze it had been that morning. Jumping off the tree, Sasuke headed towards home.

The rain was in a heavy down pour by the time he passed Team 7's training grounds. The streets were now deserted and if Sasuke didn't no better, he would say that he was the only human in Konoha. He looked at the training grounds one last time and was about to continue walking when he saw someone in the middle of the training grounds.

He could tell she was a woman by the long hair and her figure. Her back was turned to him, however, concealing her identity from him. She was standing but barely and her shoulders were heaving up and down, making it obvious that she was extremely tired. A small pool of blood was forming at her feet.

Sasuke took a step forward and crunched a stick under his feet. The noise was loud enough for the woman to hear and she turned around, in a fighting stance. Sasuke was shocked at who the woman was. Hinata lowered her arms and deactivated her Byakugan. "S-s-sasuke?" she asked. "Wh-what a-are you doing here?"

Sasuke didn't reply right away, he was too busy looking at the state Hinata was in. By the looks of it, a few ribs were broken, her left arm was broken, and blood was pouring from countless cuts and scrapes from her body. Before he could reply to her question, she began to collapse. "Hinata!" he called out as he ran to her. He caught her just in time and turned her over so her face was facing his. Without thinking of even returning her to the Hyuuga mansion, he ran as fast as he could to the Uchiha compound.

Hinata moaned in pain as he ran. _'Did she do this to herself? What would make her train this hard?'_

He reached the compound in record time. Sasuke quickly brought her to one of the spare rooms and laid her down on a futon. Then, he retrieved a bowl of cold water, a towel, bandages, and a spare change of clothes. _'Great, I have to remove her clothes,'_ he thought to himself, a blush forming on his face. First, he removed her shirt and bra, trying not to look at her fully developed breasts in the process. A large gash was right across her stomach and he did his best to bandage it without waking her.

When all of her wounds were completely bandaged, he changed her into the spare clothes he brought. He felt her forehead, and sure enough, it was burning. _'How long was she out in the rain for?'_ Hinata's breathing was very fast, way too fast. She was profusely sweating and she cringed every once in a while from one her injuries. Sasuke applied the wet cloth to her forehead and wiped the sweat from her body with the towel.

The rain was still pouring outside and it showed no signs of letting up soon. Sasuke fixed himself some dinner and made an extra bowl of ramen just in case Hinata woke up. He ate it in the room she was in and still he stayed there after he was done, keeping his vigilant watch over her. It continued raining into the night and by the time sleep eventually overcame him, it still hadn't let up.

-------

The next morning, warm rays of sun met Sasuke's eyes. He slowly opened them and then quickly jolted up when he remembered Hinata. He looked over to the futon and found her stirring quietly. After a few minutes, she woke up. Her pale eyes opened slowly as Sasuke walked over to her. "Sasuke?" she asked weakly. Hinata sat up slowly but then gasped and grabbed her stomach. She coughed up blood and collapsed down on the futon again.

"Don't move," Sasuke instructed, a hint of worry licking at his voice. "You'll only open your wounds even more." Hinata nodded and relaxed down onto the futon.

After a few moments of peaceful silence, the young Hyuuga mumbled, "Thank you." Sasuke gasped. "If you hadn't found me, then no one would have because of the rain. By the time it let up, I would have died from loss of blood. So…thank you."

Sasuke looked at her, stunned. So much about her had changed in the last ten years. She no longer blushed or stuttered and her voice seemed more confident. "Uh, don't mention it," he said. "I couldn't just leave you there. Not after I saw you collapse." Hinata smiled. "I'm assuming you're hungry?" the Uchiha asked.

The Hyuuga nodded, "Just a little bit."

"I'll go get us some breakfast," he said.

Sasuke ran to the kitchen and fixed up two new bowls of ramen. When he returned to the room, he found Hinata sitting up with her legs over the side of the futon. "What are you doing, sitting up?" he asked, rushing to her side and setting the bowls down. He noticed that a faint blush was on her cheeks. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Umm…the clothes I'm wearing aren't mine," she said and Sasuke understood her meaning, a blush coming to his face. "Did…d-did you see anything?" she asked, her fingers pointing together.

"Well, I saw a little but I didn't stare," he said, his hand going behind his head. Hinata bowed her head. "Anyways, uh…I, uh…made you some breakfast," he said, handing her a bowl filled with ramen.

"Thank you," she said quietly. The two ate in an awkward silence.

"So, do you mind if I ask what you were doing on the training grounds?" Sasuke asked when they were finished.

Hinata looked away from him and small tears began to form in her eyes.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me if you don't want, just thought I'd ask."

"It's because I'm weak and a failure to society and my family," she started, very quietly. "My father has told me this since I was a child. So after all these years I finally mustered up the courage to tell him that I didn't want to be the Hyuuga heiress and that Hanabi should be. He got angry this time, however, angrier than he's ever been before. He beat me, and then threw me out of the house. Neji tried to help but he ended up getting hurt as well. That was two weeks ago." She was trembling even more now.

"You don't have to tell me anymore if it hurts too much," Sasuke consoled.

"I've been training ever since then, trying to prove to him that even if I can't be the Hyuuga heiress or as good as Hanabi, I still want to show him that a failure can change. But last night when I returned to show him how I had improved over the last two weeks, he tried to…he tried to…" At this point, Hinata had completely broken down and the tears were falling full force. She turned around and launched herself into Sasuke.

"Hinata, what did he do to you?" Sasuke asked, concerned.

"He tried to rape me!" she cried. Sasuke gasped and thought, _'How could her own father think of doing that to her!'_ He wrapped his arms around her protectively and held her close, running his fingers through her long hair.

Sasuke had no idea what to do or say. What should he say to a woman who was almost raped by her own father!

After a while, Hinata sobs died down and her tears slowed. "I have nowhere to go," she said into his shirt. "How can I go home after that? My father will surely…" she trailed off.

"We can tell Naruto about it," Sasuke said, grabbing onto her shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. "As Hokage, there's no way he'll let your father get away with it."

"B-but…s-still, I don't want to go back to that house. It holds too many painful memories for me."

"Then you can stay here," Sasuke told her. "There's so many extra rooms in here. If you don't want to I underst—"

"Oh thank you Sasuke," Hinata cried. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Do you mean it?"

"Of course."

------

The next seven months went by and Hinata and Sasuke became best friends. From that day on, Hinata had lived there. The two had discussed what had happened with the Hokage, Naruto, and Hiashi had been removed from his role as the head Hyuuga and Hanabi was put in his place.

Although their relationship was strictly friendship, it earned many stares and annoyances from Sakura, Ino, and almost every other unmarried girl in Konoha.

"Sasuke, breakfast!" Hinata called. Sasuke looked up at the sound of her voice. Just hearing her voice made his insides squirm. He had to face it, over the past seven months, he had fallen for her, and hard. Marriage was still out of the question but maybe dating?

When he walked into the kitchen, he was met with the most delicious looking feast he had ever seen. There were many dishes of onigiri, fish, fruits, and miso. Hinata sat down and looked at him, "What's the matter? Not hungry?"

"No, it's not that," Sasuke said, also sitting down. "It's just that, why'd you go to all this trouble of preparing this?"

"It's my way of saying thank you," Hinata said, her eyes cast downward. "These past seven months have been so much fun. On that day when you brought me back to your home and bandaged my wounds, you saved me…in more ways than you probably know. I've been living in your house for the last seven months. You've given me a roof over my head and a warm bed to sleep in, all the while asking for nothing in return. So…this is the only way I could come up with to say thank you."

Sasuke smiled and stood up from his chair. He walked over to Hinata and took her hands in his. "Hinata, I did all of that because I wanted to. You don't have to thank me for doing something I wanted to do. How could I let you go back to your father after what he did to you and what he tried to do? There's no need for you to say thank you at all. This is your home too, not just mine. And even though it sounds crazy and you might not believe it, you're the one that saved me."

Hinata was taken aback by the sincerity of his words. "What are you—"?

"Now let's finish the wonderful breakfast you've prepared before it gets cold," he said, going back to his seat. Hinata was stunned but eventually smiled and started eating her breakfast.

**-Later that day-**

Sasuke sat in his room thinking of ways to ask Hinata out on a date. _'Dammit Sasuke, you're acting like a little kid! You're almost twenty-four and you can't muster up the courage to ask the woman you love out on a date! God dammit, you're so pathetic!'_

He was ripped out of his thoughts when there was a soft knock on the door followed by Hinata's voice. "Sasuke? Sorry to bother you but I wanted to let you know I'm going to do some food shopping for dinner tonight. I'll be gone for a little while."

The Uchiha walked to the door and opened it and came face-to-face with the most beautiful woman in the world. Just looking directly at her made him blush. _'It's now or never!'_ he screamed in his head. "Actually H-Hinata, would you like to go out to dinner tonight?" _'See, now was that so hard?'_

Hinata didn't answer at first and Sasuke turned his head away. "I'd love to!" she beamed.

**-Later that evening-**

The two were sitting up on the top of the mesa where the four Hokage's heads were engraved. (A/N You know the statues that Naruto painted all over in the first episode?) They were watching the sunset after an excellent dinner at one of the more fancier restaurants in Konoha. Sasuke made sure that he didn't sit too close to Hinata, more for his sake. "That dinner was delicious Sasuke!" Hinata beamed. "But you really didn't have to do that for me."

"I know but it was _my_ way of saying 'thank you' to you. I meant what I said this morning, I didn't save you from anything, you saved me from everything."

"That's not true!" she protested. "I wouldn't even be alive if you hadn't found me when you did. Then you also saved me from the torture I was experiencing at home. Don't say things like that Sasuke!"

Sasuke scooted closer to Hinata until he was close enough to grab her shoulders. "Hinata, listen to me," he said, looking directly into her pale eyes which made her shiver a little. "Before you came to live with me, my house couldn't even be called a home. It was so cold and dark and sometimes I felt myself just slipping away into the darkness. But ever since the day you moved in, it's been brighter and I can actually call it a home again."

"There's been something that I've been meaning to tell you," he said huskily. "I realized it a few months after you began living with me."

"Sasuke, what are you saying?" Hinata asked.

Without replying with words, Sasuke pulled Hinata even closer to him and locked his lips onto hers. She didn't pull away or squirm. Hinata melted into him like a candle.

After they broke apart, they sat together in a comfortable silence for hours. Sasuke had his arms around Hinata protectively, while she molded her back into his chest, seeming as if she were afraid that she would slip away. Hinata tilted her head up and whispered into Sasuke's ear, "I love you too."

Night had settled in while they were sitting there and neither had realized it. "It's getting late," Sasuke said, standing up and bringing Hinata with him. "We should head back." Rain began to pour down from the sky, getting the two completely soaked.

They walked back to the Uchiha compound with Sasuke's arm around Hinata's shoulder. The rain was still coming down hard but it didn't really matter to them. Both of them were soaked to the bone but being so close provided them with warmth that made the down pouring rain seem like a light drizzle.

When they were about a block away from their home, they heard a rustle in the bushes. The two got into fighting stances and activated their Sharingan and Byakugan. Hinata the attacker first and was surprised to see her father hiding in the bushes. She was about to warn Sasuke when Hiashi threw a kunai at him. Instead of telling him to get out of the way, she jumped in front of him and took the kunai right to the chest.

"Hinata!"

-------

Sasuke sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Hinata had taken a kunai right to the chest and it took some of the most skilled medic nins to revive her. After Hinata collapsed to the ground, Sasuke had gone into a fury. He had almost killed Hiashi and would have succeeded if Naruto hadn't stepped in at that point and stopped him.

"Sasuke!" The said person looked up at the call of his name and found Naruto approaching him.

"Can I see Hinata now?" Sasuke asked quickly. Naruto nodded and showed him the room the young Hyuuga was in.

Sasuke walked hurriedly into the room and found Hinata lying awake in her bed. An I.V. was hooked up to her chest in the place where the kunai had struck her. She beamed and tried to sit up when she saw Sasuke but her injury wouldn't allow her.

"Don't move," he said hurrying to her side. "You'll open your wound again." He pushed her down gently on the bed and she pulled him down so he was lying next to her. She kissed his cheek and rested her head back down on the pillow.

The two fell asleep next to each other, their hands entwined. Sasuke's last thought was, '_How many times is she going to save me?'_

Owari!

A/N Yeah, yeah it was stupid but like I said, I was bored and this was the only thing I could come up with the get myself out of my boredom. Anyways, let me know what you thought! Please review!


End file.
